I wish to make one comment on the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary: I regret that he should have made a statement which is somewhat insulting to the intelligence of the House, first of all, and to that of the electorate. The suggestion that it was inadvisable and undesirable that there should be a simple introduction of votes at 18 in this Bill because the people had not yet given their decision on it in relation to Dáil and Presidential elections is at least fanciful. It is strange that this should form the basis of the Government's decision. It must be remembered that between next October and next February another local elections Bill will have to be introduced reducing the voting age to 18. If anybody suggests that that is not an abuse of the work of the House I should like to know of a better example. I do not think anybody imagines that the referendum in October on the amendment of the Constitution is likely to result in votes at 21 being retained. That issue is even more of a foregone conclusion than was the EEC referendum.
There is every good reason to believe the people are in favour of votes at 18 and there is no reason why the Government could not have set a good example by introducing votes at 18 for local elections now in this legislation. The reason given in the Parliamentary Secretary's statement that the Government consider that the voting age at local elections should not be reduced until the people have given their decision in relation to Dáil and Presidential elections is not justified. To my mind the reason given is not only spurious but hypocritical. On this basis he went on to say, it may be expected that the new voting age will be in operation for the local elections in 1973.
There is a great deal of very urgent work to be done in this House in respect of local government reform— particularly in regard to the greater Dublin area—and to have us saddled again in the autumn with another piece of legislation immediately following the referendum is not good enough and I want to protest against it. We in the Labour Party will again test the bona fides of the Government who in principle are totally in agreement as is every Deputy to my knowledge, that the franchise should be given at 18. I know of no Deputy or Senator who intends to oppose the proposition.
Therefore, we will have the spectacle that, on Committee Stage of this Bill, the Labour Party will put down an amendment to introduce votes at 18 and the Parliamentary Secretary and his colleagues will once again vote against that proposition. One would imagine that the fact that votes at 18 are in operation in Northern Ireland, in Great Britain and in Europe would help the Government to make up their mind and to amend this legislation, thus getting the question out of the way in regard to local elections. This would not prejudice any decision which might be taken subsequently in the autumn in regard to Presidential or Dáil elections.
I would make the point that it is politically unfair, snide, sly and typical of the approach of the Government for the Government not to give the people now a general indication of the elections that they will face within the next 12 months. The recent information bulletin issued by the Department of the Taoiseach stated quite clearly that a Presidential election will take place between April and June, 1973, and that the Presidential election campaign will start in April, 1973. Simultaneously, we were informed by the Parliamentary Secretary that local government elections will take place in June, 1973. Therefore, may we assume that the Presidential election and the local government elections will be held on the same day in 1973? The Government should come clean and give us that information. This is a natural assumption. The Government's arrangements are a matter for speculation.
Now that it would not seem to be opportune for the Government to have a general election before the end of the summer, the referendum and the general election might well be held next autumn and the Presidential and local elections in June, 1973. I have always noticed the reluctance of the Fianna Fáil Cabinet to have a general election immediately following local elections. If one checks the dates one finds that invariably Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries like to have the general election immediately before the local elections, thus effectively circumscribing the operations of any newly aspiring Dáil Deputies. This has been obvious over the years. The people should be forewarned of the intentions of the Government. The precise information should be given as to the Government's intentions in regard to local elections.
I welcome the other reforms proposed.They are long overdue. I would share Deputy Begley's concern that "Mr. Jerrymander" of Fianna Fáil will now be in cahoots with the various Deputies in the various counties realigning local electoral boundaries. Certainly, this is in the air in Dublin for the Greater Dublin Council. It would be most improper that we should have a Bill suddenly foisted on us next February or March, immediately prior to the local government elections, proposing new electoral areas that have been carved out. I do not think the Government would succeed that easily in that regard because, while the Government had particularly good architects for that purpose in the former Deputy Kevin Boland and Deputy Neil Blaney, I doubt very much that the Government have the capacity to do it now.
